In this monologue, Dennis Prager argues that contemporary society has entered an "age of anti‑reason," celebrating irrationality and emotionalism. He critiques COVID‑19 policies, highlighting perceived contradictions such as mask mandates after vaccination and the claim that prior infection does not confer immunity. Prager uses a photo of Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband kissing with masks as a symbol of this irrationality. He shares a personal anecdote about his son being bullied and a mother’s reaction, using it to discuss discipline and the moral question of spanking. He contrasts modern secular irrationality with historical religious irrationality, noting the medieval Church’s anti‑Jewish hatred and questioning what modern secular beliefs match that. Prager reflects on his own religious Jewish identity, suggesting that religion provides a sanctioned outlet for non‑rational needs like love and beauty, which reason alone cannot satisfy. He also expresses skepticism toward modern art and cultural valuations, questioning why society is asked to accept certain artistic works as meaningful. Throughout, Prager’s tone is polemical, blending rhetorical questions, personal stories, and historical references to underscore his critique of contemporary cultural and political trends.
Chapters
Seen that picture? Have you? Have you? You gave it to me. I'm surprised that someone here didn't see it. When was that? I believe it was yesterday. Yes. It should be the symbolic photo of the age in which we live. The Enlightenment, 18th century France in particular, though it was also in England, was supposed to usher in the age of reason. We are living in the age of anti-reason. The age that celebrates the irrational. The very notion that you have to wear a mask after being vaccinated and then being told the vaccine is effective, why isn't that obvious as an utter absurdity, a contradiction? Or that if you had COVID, you don't have immunity. The first time that has happened. You get a virus and you're no longer immune. Nothing happened. Nothing happened. That's what we're supposed to believe. Nothing happened. How could you not have contempt for the vice president and her husband if you see that picture? How is that possible? The age of feelings. I dubbed this the age of feelings when I began My career. How do you feel about it? Not is it right? How do you feel about it? I told the story all of my life. Well, not all of my life. How old is my son? He was born in '83. 17 and 21 is 38. My older son is 38 years old. Wow, hard to believe. So I'm telling you a story from 36 years ago when he was 2, and he was in a park with his mom at the time, my wife. And she told me when she came home what happened. Some disgusting kid, some boy bully, walked over— I don't know, 5, 6 years old— and just threw him down. That would not have been— I mean, she would have told me, it was worth telling me, obviously. But that's not the reason I'm telling you the story. What happened next? The mother ran over to her son, who was practicing to be a Nazi, and she said to him, "What's troubling you, darling?" What's troubling you, you little a-hole? What's troubling you? And I thought that that was symbolic of the time. That happened in a park in Beverly Thrills, California. Not surprising. Not that everybody in Beverly Thrills thinks that way, but It's still, as I said, not surprising. It would be more surprising had it happened in Pocatello, Idaho. Let us put it that way. If I had to have you bet in a park in which city, Beverly Thrills, California, or Pocatello, Idaho, I think you would have guessed Beverly Thrills. What's troubling you? Now, by the way, be very interesting one time to— we will. Let's, let's do this. I am now addressing my producer. And let's do an hour. Do you think if a parent had whacked the kid's bottom at that moment, that would have been wrong. Alright, let's see. When I did, it must be at least a decade, I did a show on were you ever spanked and do you think that that was wrong in retrospect. And it was astonishing to me how many people thought that their parent had done a service to them. I did not expect of the calls that I got. But here would be a real-life situation. Would it have been right for the parent to have whacked that kid on the bottom after throwing a baby down? Age of feelings. How do you feel? How are you feeling, darling? What's troubling you? So anyway, yes, the age of reason has given us the most irrational period in history. You would have to go to some dark age. Anyway, the dark ages are somewhat overstated in their darkicity, in their darkitude. But anyway, you know, the contempt with which the medieval church is viewed by the enlightened for its irrationality. But I'm not— I don't know what— tell me what irrationality was greater than secular irrationality. And I'm a Jew asking this question, so I don't have any axe to grind here. The greatest irrationality of many Catholics in the Middle Ages was hatred of Jews. So, uh, nevertheless, I am posing the question: what, what matched it? Oh, they put Galileo in, uh, in, in house confinement. Okay, that, that's what you have to dig up. Galileo was treated better than, uh, than a lot of the people who basically did nothing when they, when they stormed the Capitol. He wasn't put in solitary confinement. Some of these people are, who did no damage, hurt no human being. Two people vaccinated outdoors wearing masks is sick enough. Indoors, it's sick enough. And then kissing through the mask? It's not kissing, by the way. Oh, it's not kissing. You're being corrected. That's a very interesting question. Can you— can it be said that you have kissed while wearing a mask? That's true. It's face-to-face contact. The thing that I have always feared the most, I've said this all of my life, is irrationality, is anti-rationality. Amazing, isn't it, that the most rational people today as a group turn out to be the religious? And I have a theory why. I've told it to you. Everybody needs some irrational in their life. Reason is not enough. Reason is necessary, but not enough. The religious Christian and Jew tends to confine their non-rational to their religious beliefs. I acknowledge it. I'm a religious Jew. I have non-rational beliefs. Or certainly non-provable beliefs. I believe Moses was on Sinai and received the Ten Commandments from God. Okay, I can't prove that. But I'm very rational about life. That allows me to express my belief that reason is not enough. Religion offers that as an outlet for the desire to have the non-rational in life. That's good. Love is not rational. Beauty is not rational. There's a place for it. I mean, think about what we're supposed to believe. COVID is one example. We're supposed to believe that Jackson Pollock's paintings are worth millions of dollars. Man standing on a ladder throwing paint from cans. And I'm supposed to believe that that stuff that they hang in museums of modern art conveys a message? No, conveys. Stuff conveys. I'm Dennis Prager, 1-8-Prager-776.
